


another promise to keep

by apastelgoblin



Series: angels in flight [1]
Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Character Study, Enemies to Friends, Gen, Uneasy Allies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2020-10-01
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:48:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26595496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apastelgoblin/pseuds/apastelgoblin
Summary: “You’re never going to forgive me for my part in all this, are you?” she asks softly.He doesn’t answer at first, staring out over the ocean, his eyes far away. Finally he sighs, getting to his feet and holding out a hand for her. She takes it gingerly.“Can’t really hold it against you,” he says finally. “It’s not your fault that you don’t know any different. Whoever decided it was a good idea to leave you with Larxene made a mistake.”“You’ve changed, Axel.”She means it as a compliment, but the smile that stretches across his face isn’t kind. He drops her hand and turns away.KH2. A short venture of Naminé and Axel. With Roxas gone, two Nobodies are left without a home or a purpose.
Relationships: Axel & Naminé (Kingdom Hearts)
Series: angels in flight [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947658
Kudos: 6





	another promise to keep

**Author's Note:**

> Just something that was meant to be short and bittersweet, but got away from me a little. I've always felt that Kingdom Hearts was full of missed opportunities for interesting character interactions, and best girl Naminé needs more love. Slight Rokunami hints if you squint since I can't help myself

DiZ is gone, and with him all the sounds that have become familiar to Naminé. The gentle hum of the computers downstairs, the click of his heels as he paced across the tiles. He’s left her a ghost, nothing for company but the breeze whispering through the curtains, rustling the pages tacked to the walls.

Alone, again.

The pages are hers, the only colour in the White Room. The sketchbook in her lap is hers too, the only thing she’s ever truly owned. A tool for her work. The room is clean and orderly – besides the drawings which had slowly consumed the walls, of course – and far too spacious to be considered comfortable. Truthfully, it made her feel small. Perhaps now more than ever.

She grips the pad with trembling fingers, her eyes pricking with tears threatening to fall. She figures she would feel something like contentment now it was done, or at the very least relief.

But she just feels sad.

“He belongs with Sora,” she whispers. She knows it to be true, so why does it feel like she’s trying to convince herself?

She just wishes there’d been more time.

While she worked, she’d longed for a day with him to herself, to wander the sunset streets of Twilight Town, without DiZ or Riku or the Organization interfering. A day to talk, give him the answers he’d wanted so desperately, explain who he was and what would happen. Selfishly, she’d wanted to talk to him about herself, tell her own story to someone who maybe, just maybe would understand. More than anything she’d longed to pretend for a day that things were normal, that they could just be two people. The moments she’d snatched for herself she spent watching him, the times he hung out with friends, goofing around, eating ice cream. She knew it wasn’t real, his friends were only programmed copies of the real teenagers living in the real Twilight Town, but it was something. The feelings were real, even if everything else wasn’t.

Every day was a wish that she could have joined them, but so long as DiZ was in control it was hopeless. She'd learnt before the dangers of putting herself into a place she didn't belong, it was the reason for a lot of the current mess. Yet still, hidden beneath her pillow where DiZ wouldn't find it was a drawing. Not a memory - not even a fake one - just a drawing, a plea for something that couldn't be. After all the things she’s done, all she can do is fix her meddling and stop wishing for the impossible.

A sound from downstairs draws her attention; someone is in the mansion. Her first thought is Riku, though what reason he could have to return she cannot guess. Gathering herself she stands, sketch book clutched to her chest and moves to the door. The hallway is dark beyond her room, dust coating the carpet, rising in small puffs beneath the disturbance of each step. She peers over the bannister, surprised to see a dishevelled Axel standing downstairs. He seems just as surprised to see her.

“Naminé?”

She balks at the sight of him, unsure what to expect. Visions of betrayal come to mind, black coated figures scheming in a white room much like her own. Traitors, they declare, must be dealt with.

“He- He’s not here.”

He doesn’t reply for some time, and she knows what he’s feeling, the hurt taking place where his Heart should be. Slowly he approaches, as though she were some wild creature prone to fleeing. He stops not far from where she stands, towering over her. Apparently she’s forgotten just how tall he is. Though she’s grown herself since they last met, it doesn’t appear to have made any difference.

“I know.” Any hint of sorrow dissipates quickly, and he continues briskly, “So he just left you, huh?”

DiZ.

“I suppose so,” she replies quietly.

Axel frowns, his eyes hard. She falters under that glare, gaze turning to her feet. Finally he sighs.

“Well, come on then.” He smirks at her surprise. “I mean, I can leave you here, if you like?”

“No!” she protests, louder than she means to. “It’s just, I didn’t think you’d…”

“Want you around?” he finishes with a drawl. “Well, turns out I’ve got a knack for picking up strays. Besides, who else is there to keep an eye on you?”

Who else indeed. It prickles slightly, being treated like a child, but what other option is there? Right now at least, she doesn’t want to be alone.

“Right. Oh, your coat.”

He follows her eyes to the long gash across his chest, poking one finger through with a frown. “Compliments of our old friend.”

“Just, wait a moment?”

She returns to her room, rummaging through drawers before finding a battered old tin. Clutching it to her chest she runs back to Axel, who glances at the box with one brow quirked. It rattles softly as she pops the lid open, revealing a small collection of pins, needles and a spool of thread. At her direction he lowers himself to the carpet, casually leaning his back against the bannister. Slowly she approaches, her fingers trembling as she reaches for the tear. Her hand is tiny on his broad chest, a pale fish in an ocean of black. Green eyes meet blue. Retreating, she snaps a length of thread with her teeth and gets to work.

She hums softly to herself as she sews, every stitch taking her back to the time before, a princess trapped in a tower.

She’d found pleasure in sewing, much like drawing it was a small comfort to create something with her hands, though at least her stitches never rearranged reality. In her dreams she strung together pastel shells, the like of which were nowhere to be found within the Castle. Despite whispered requests to the Dusks as she fell asleep each night, the objects they scavenged for her were nothing like the shells of her dreams. Instead they brought her discarded things, bottle caps, broken toys and odd socks. It wasn’t their fault that they didn’t understand. Finally she woke one morning to find scraps of fabric and a shrunken jumper slipped between her sheets.

The doll had seemed a good idea at the time, a silent companion to pass the days with. No one in her waking hours had offered any kindness, and though she longed for the company of those within her dreams, they weren’t hers to replicate, not really. So she settled for a reflection of herself. She’d been quite proud of her handiwork, considering. Loose stitches showed here and there, the head a little lumpy but still, it was something. At least until Larxene had found it. Snatching the doll with cruel fingers before Naminé could hide it, she’d laughed, tossing it back in her face. The next morning found her companion locked in a cage, no key in sight.

“Hey, careful now!”

She comes back to herself with a start, eyes widening at the red blossom blooming from the tip of her finger. She’s pricked herself.

“Sorry,” she whispers, packing the tin away. She leaves it on the floor, supposing there’s no real use for it anymore.

Axel lurches to his feet, running a hand over the new seam. “It’ll do for now, I guess.”

She follows him downstairs and out of the mansion, into the warm glow of golden hour. The streets of Twilight Town are clean, crowded with buildings built from bricks in the hues of a warm sunset. They wander, Axel seemingly with no goal in mind before making his way up to the hill near the outskirts of town. The sun hangs lazily low in the sky, and the enormous and intricately detailed clock tower stands out on the hazy orange horizon. Axel stands at the railing, staring out at fields of green. Seemingly content to remain for a time, Naminé settles herself on the nearby bench, eyes on his back. He doesn’t turn when Riku approaches.

“Guess that’s that,” he says at last.

“Let’s go,” Riku replies.

His voice is dark, a stranger. She should be used to the change by now yet still it sends unpleasant prickles along her skin. He wouldn’t speak of it, didn’t speak much at all, all the while choosing to act as though nothing had changed. She still knows nothing of what really happened, only that when he returned at last with an unconscious Roxas slung over his shoulder, he was different. His face he kept hidden, though she suspected who she might find within the depths of his hood.

Axel scoffs. “Go where? It’s not like we have homes to return to.” Finally he turns with a roll of his eyes. “We don’t exist, remember?”

“Yes, it’s true,” she says softly. “We may not have homes… but there _is_ someplace I want to go.” She looks down to the pad in her lap. Sora and Roxas rendered in crayon, hand in hand. Two halves of the same whole. “And… someone I want to see.”

“Same here,” Axel replies wistfully. His gaze snaps to Riku. “So, you think you might let us go? I know you’re here to get rid of us, but…”

Naminé’s eyes dart from Axel to Riku, clutching her book to her chest. “DiZ? Wants to get rid of me?”

She can’t say why it surprises her, after all DiZ was never shy of his contempt for her and her kind. Still, it hurts.

“Go.”

Axel looks unconvinced, eyes narrowed as though anticipating a trap. “You sure about this?”

“I owe you both.”

It’s Naminé’s turn to frown, confused. “For what?”

“Castle Oblivion. You helped us.”

“Heh. You don’t have to tell me twice.”

Axel lifts one arm, opening a dark corridor. It swirls black and purple, an ink blot spreading until it’s tall enough to walk through. She hesitates. Is this a mistake? It’s not true, in a way, that none had been kind amongst the Organization’s ranks. After all, he’d been the one to finally let her go, had he not? Axel watches her silently, his face unreadable. Yet he waits.

With one last look to Riku, “Thank you,” she turns and steps into the portal. Darkness swallows her.

* * *

Inside, the corridor is colossal. Naminé has never found the right terms to describe it. It stretches high above her head, a space seeming to be made of a substance somewhere between liquid and gas, flowing around them in shades of peach and blue. Somehow it remains solid beneath their feet, though Naminé has always wondered whether one day it might swallow them whole.

Axel appears, the portal closing at his heels. With a sigh he steps past her. She follows.

“Are you hungry, Naminé?”

“Am I…?”

“Hungry,” he repeats, glancing at her over his shoulder as though _she’s_ said something unexpected.

“I… suppose so?”

He plunges one hand into his coat pocket, rummaging for a moment before pulling out an ice cream stick and a few battered pieces of munny. The stick he returns quickly into his pocket, and he mumbles to himself while counting out the money still in his other hand.

“Let’s see, I’ve got enough for maybe a pretzel or two. That okay?”

She nods.

Another portal opens, and Naminé is surprised to be greeted by the gentle rumble of waves caressing the shore. They are back in Twilight Town. Gulls cry overhead, circling the sky beneath the lazy sunset. She turns to Axel.

“The beach?”

“Why not? Enjoy it, we can’t stay too long.”

* * *

She sits on the wall a little way away from him, eyes on the water as her heels gently bump against the bricks. There’s no crowd, only a lone walker following the shoreline with their hands pressed to the small of their back, shoes dangling from their fingers. After so many dreams of the sea, Naminé isn’t sure what to make of the real thing. It’s not the bright aqua of the Destiny Islands, and it feels different somehow. But she likes the sound of the water crashing against the sand, and the cool breeze whispering against her face. She takes another bite of her pretzel. The slight sting of salt on her lip is a new sensation, and she finds herself wondering just how many small wonders of being human she’s never experienced.

“So how does that all work, anyway?” Axel gestures vaguely at the pad in her lap. “Do the drawings make the memories, or the memories the drawings?”

“Hm,” she hums, one finger to her chin. “It’s a bit of both, I suppose.”

He doesn’t reply, no longer looking at her. She brushes crumbs and salt from her lap.

“You’re never going to forgive me for my part in all this, are you?” she asks softly.

He doesn’t answer at first, staring out over the ocean, his eyes far away. Finally he sighs, getting to his feet and holding out a hand for her. She takes it gingerly.

“Can’t really hold it against you,” he says finally. “It’s not your fault that you don’t know any different. Whoever decided it was a good idea to leave you with Larxene made a mistake.”

“You’ve changed, Axel.”

She means it as a compliment, but the smile that stretches across his face isn’t kind. He drops her hand and turns away. Perhaps instead she should have just thanked him for the pretzel, or better yet not spoken at all.

* * *

Silence stretches between them.

He doesn’t acknowledge her presence, but raises no objections either so she continues to follow, unsure of where else she could go. They sneak through streets, creep across Worlds like fugitives. But who were they hiding from, DiZ, or the Organization? Perhaps even both.

They spend the night in a World with dense forest, trees cramped together so close they block the sky above. She can see the inviting light of a village in the distance, windows staring back at her, a warm glow like eyes shining in the dark. Axel must have seen, but he makes no move towards it and instead settles down in the roots of a tree. Naminé gazes wistfully at the village once more, imagining a cosy room and a hot meal before following his example.

She dreams of darkness and flaxen wheat hair, blue eyes like deep oceans and others like molten gold. When she wakes her cheeks are damp.

The first Dusk attack comes as a surprise, knocking her to the dirt before she realises it’s there. Pages burst from her sketchbook, fluttering around her like falling leaves.

“Naminé!”

It watches her without eyes – never still – it’s limbs writhing like water flowing backwards. With a soundless cry it bursts into flames. She stares, eyes wide as it fades to nothing.

“Are you alright?”

She takes Axel’s proffered hand and lets him pull her to her feet.

“You okay?” he repeats, firmer this time.

She’s fine, nothing more than scraped knees and gravel pressed to the palms of her hands. The Dusk is gone. She can’t help but wonder who they were, what about them wasn’t strong enough to retain themselves when they lost their Heart. Could the lessers remember, or were they at least spared the torment of knowing.

Dusting off her skirt, she sticks close when Axel beckons her. The incident leaves her rattled and him more watchful. If nothing else, it appears to break the ice between them. They might be close, he reasons, don’t worry about the pages. It’s time to leave this World.

* * *

They pause in a World of grey cobbled streets, tall houses sectioned off by ornate black iron gates. The smells of something warm and sweet waft from somewhere down the road, a bakery perhaps. Four wheeled vehicles are pulled by pretty horses, tails swishing as they pass. Looking up at the closest house and its black gate, Naminé is reminded of the old mansion.

She turns to Axel, watching, wondering. His plan appears to be nothing more than to keep moving, keep them off their trail. They’ve made no attempts to return to The World That Never Was, much to her relief and curiosity. With Roxas’ retrieval no longer a priority – or even a possibility really – why did Axel avoid his comrades?

“What was he like?”

Axel lets out a derisive snort. “ _You_ don’t get to ask that question.”

She’s touched a nerve, a habit she’s never meant yet can’t seem to avoid.

He turns to her with a frustrated groan, half-hearted bitterness in his eyes. “I thought you got to meet him yourself?”

“I did, but not for long enough. DiZ and Riku interfered.”

He snorts again. “I’ll bet. You told him the truth, didn’t you?”

“What I could.”

“I… I couldn’t do it. I didn’t want him to go and disappear on me. He would’ve liked that though – the truth, I mean.”

_How could you even say such a thing… even if it were true?_

She flinches at the memory, though looking back, he hadn’t been angry at her. Just sad. Still, perhaps some things really were better left unsaid.

“He wasn’t like the others.”

Naminé turns at his words, giving him her full attention.

“He wasn’t always scheming, planning the next stab in the back. He was just a kid; moody little jerk, at times,” he adds affectionately. “Knew how to dish it out as well as take it, and was worryingly addicted to ice cream.” He laughs, though the sound is hollow. “He was a good kid. We had fun.”

She’s not sure what to say, not wanting to toe the line so she says nothing for once. Axel doesn’t continue, though she appreciates the snippets he’s given all the same.

The sun lowers, stretching golden fingers between the gaps of the street. For the first time she feels something akin to being homesick. A silly thought; she has no home after all. Only Axel’s presence, a comfort in itself. Before long the sun disappears entirely, leaving them both in darkness.

“So who did you want to see, anyway?”

 _Sora_ , she thinks to herself sadly.

 _Roxas_ , a quiet voice corrects her.

“Kairi,” she says.

“ _Kairi?_ But, if you meet her you’ll-”

“She’s where I belong. I’m only her shadow, after all.”

“Still believe in all that nonsense then?” There’s a bitter edge to his voice.

“I-”

 _I have to. Otherwise that would mean I – that Roxas is…_ The thought is unbearable, she _told_ him, you won’t disappear. You’ll be whole. She pushes the thought away, if she can’t hold on to that nonsense, her non-existent Heart would break.

“We’re only half a person.” _We have someone to go back to._

She feels him staring at her through the dark, as though he senses what she’s left unsaid.

“That doesn’t have to be true. If you stay away from Kairi you won’t disappear. If Roxas hadn’t-”

“But Sora.”

“What about Sora? He’s worth more than Roxas?”

“Of course not. But they needed each other.”

“And yet there’s no more Roxas, while Sora gets to carry on his merry little way.”

She can’t see a way to make him understand, so she lets it lie. But how could he? He was a true Nobody, his someone truly gone. Roxas was special, a body with a mind of it’s own while his other still clung to the light. She herself was no more than a ghost, not even a body to call her own, only memories she had no right to, and a power she could never be sure she was using correctly. Fixing one string of mistakes by tearing apart another.

_No._

Recompleting. That nonsense.

* * *

Upon entering the next World they are met with an ambush.

“Stay behind me,” Axel hisses, wheels of flame crackling from his open hands. The lessers swarm, but she recognises personal guards amongst the Dusks, agents of individual members. They are getting close.

Each World they stop in, the Nobodies find them. Axel does an admirable job as guardian, dispatching each one with a snarl before they have a chance to reach her, but even she can see it’s getting to him. More slits are torn in his coat when he grows careless, but Naminé has no thread to fix them. Helpless again. No way to fight, no way to help even in the quiet moments, hidden in the shadows after the battles.

“I never thanked you.”

He grunts. “You don’t have to. I’m not gonna leave you to the Dusks.”

“I don’t mean for that.”

“Oh. For?”

“Letting me go. Back in the Castle. There wasn’t much I could do, but what I did was because of you.”

He doesn’t reply, but she doesn’t mind. She’d be naïve to think he hadn’t had his own… less altruistic reasons, yet she appreciates it all the same. Glancing in his direction, she draws her knees to her chest.

“What’s it like, knowing who you were before?”

He’s silent a long while, and she’s certain he won’t answer, another line crossed.

Then, “Not all it’s cracked up to be.” She can’t see him in the dark, but she hears the gentle _clink_ of his coat fastenings as he shuffles closer, feels his presence beside her. “It’s all you’ve got left to hold on to, all you have that makes you _you_. But… it’s a constant reminder of what you’ve lost. Sometimes I envy you two. Can’t miss what you don’t know.”

“You know that’s not true,” she whispers, resting her chin on her knees.

“None of my memories belong to me; I’m an imposter in my own dreams.” Tears well in her eyes again, threatening to spill just like her words. She never meant to start, but now it seems she cannot stop. “I don’t belong anywhere, not even my own past. You know, part of me-” _I wanted._ “Part of me was happy to put myself in her place. It was wrong I know, but I… I thought it might be nice to have a friend. Just one. I didn’t want to be alone.”

She’s never admitted it to herself, let alone out loud with someone around to hear it. It’s a relief in a way, though at the same time it brings the guilt bubbling to the surface.

“Well, that’s not entirely true. The memory part, I mean.”

Her breath hitches as she turns to him again.

“You have your own memories. Maybe not pleasant ones, but they’re yours.”

She cries. She cries because he’s right, after all. Here in the dark, she’d thought she may as well have not existed at all. But Axel’s warmth beside her, his hand gripping hers proves that she’s here. Perhaps a real girl after all.

* * *

There’s still no real goal to their journey, no end in sight and Naminé begins to wonder if it’s by design. He should hate her for taking away his only friend, yet he seems almost to rely on her, for company if nothing else. She wants to take comfort in him, but in the back of her mind is a promise. It can’t continue like this.

* * *

It’s more than lessers the next time they catch up.

Beside her, Axel tenses at the sight of the hooded figure. She looks up to see his eyes narrow, mouth stretched into a rictus of a smile.

“Saïx.”

“Axel.” The figure removes his hood, revealing cobalt hair. Cold yellow eyes settle on Naminé. “Still collecting waifs, I see. This one barely more than a shadow.”

The word hurts, as much as the open contempt beneath his gaze, taking her back to her time with DiZ. _Nothing but a Nobody, no right to exist._ She shifts closer to Axel, not wanting either of them to see. He surprises her by grasping her arm, shoving her behind him.

“She’s not important. It’s me you’re here to collect, right?”

“I’m sure Lord Xemnas would have no objections to her return. Funny… you were the last to see her before she disappeared, and apparently the first to find her.”

Axel’s grip on her arm tightens.

“What are you implying?”

He gives no answer, instead launching himself towards them. Summoning chakrams with a burst of flame, Axel deflects the blow before giving chase.

Naminé can do no more than watch through trembling fingers, horrified. They clash like savage beasts, teeth bared, snarling with every strike. Axel is fast, chakrams slicing through the air only to return to his hands within moments, but Saïx’s heavy claymore is a brutal club, the ground shuddering each time it makes contact. His cold eyes never change.

He feints left, eyes flicking to Naminé as he changes course mid strike. Axel lurches in front of her, sparks dancing from the point the weapons meet. The awkward movement leaves him wide open. This time, Saïx doesn’t miss.

“Axel!”

He groans through his teeth, throwing out one hand while blocking Saïx with the other.

“Go!” he barks.

She glances at the portal. “I can’t leave you!”

“I’ll catch up, just go.”

“But-”

“ _Go!_ ”

Nearly tripping over her own feet, she practically stumbles through the portal. It closes instantly behind her. She shouldn’t have left him, but what else could she have done?

* * *

He finds her a few Worlds away. His breath is sharp; the latest cuts run deep. Even in pain he reassures her he’ll be fine, it’s just a scratch.

The sentiment is appreciated; she hurts for him even if she has no Heart to feel with. But it makes no matter. She’s made up her mind. At least she can satisfy herself with the thought that he won’t hurt anymore on her account.

“I have to go, Axel. If I stay I’ll only be a burden. You can’t keep protecting us both.”

He stares at her as though she’s a stranger. “You won’t survive on your own. Besides, where would you go?”

“There are things I still have to do.”

“Stay with me.”

“Axel…”

“Stay with me Naminé.” He holds out his hand, gloved fingers trembling. “We’ll get Roxas back, and the three of us can go.”

“Go? Go where?”

“I don’t know, somewhere else. There’s so many Worlds out there, there has to be one with a place for us.”

She watches him carefully, the curve of his brow, the clench of his teeth. _We’ll get Roxas back._ Suddenly she realises what he means. Horrified, she steps back, her arms held out to ward him off.

“But – you can’t! What about Sora?”

He snarls, a frustrated sound like a cornered animal. “What _about_ Sora? He doesn’t even remember you, does he?”

“That… that doesn’t matter.”

 _But he’s right you know_ , a mocking voice seems to whisper in her ear. _Sora_ chose _to forget you_. It sounds frighteningly like Larxene.

“Roxas remembers you, Naminé. I remember you. This World doesn’t want us, but that’s just fine, we’ll find someplace that does.”

“But Sora-”

“Always with Sora! Why does he have the right to exist, while you and Roxas and I don’t? Why shouldn’t we exist? For once in your life, stop worrying about everyone else and ask yourself, what do _you_ want Naminé?”

“I want…”

_I want to make friends I want to go to school I want to feel the salt breeze on my face and the sand between my toes I want to eat ice cream and walk the streets I want to exist I want to be real I want to see him again I want I want I want_

“…I want to keep my promise. He may not know it’s me… but I’ll see him again, like I promised.”

His face falls, fingers curling. “I don’t want you to disappear on me too.”

She steps back, a tear sliding down her cheek. “I won’t disappear.”

She raises her own hand, uncertain fingers reaching. Like black fire, the portal swells.

“Naminé…”

She smiles through her tears.

“I’ll be whole.”


End file.
